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Batman Returns
Batman Returns is the 1992 sequel to Batman. Batman protects Gotham City from two new threats The Penguin and Catwoman. A sequel, Batman Forever, was released in 1995. Plot Copplepot heir The story begins 33 years ago at Christmas time in a mansion in Gotham. The wealthy Cobblepots have just given birth to a child - but it is shown that there is something horribly wrong with the child. They soon decide to abandon the child by dropping it into the sewers. As the baby's basket rushes through the sewers, the credits roll, and eventually the child comes to rest at the feet of a group of Emperor Penguins from the zoo. Thirty-three years later, it is Christmas time again in Gotham, as the ambitious but ruthless business tycoon Max Shreck gives a speech at a treelighting ceremony. However, the speech is soon disrupted by a criminal group of clowns known as the "Red Triangle Circus Gang". Although Batman is summoned and is able to restore order, Shreck is kidnapped amidst the chaos and is brought to their leader, a short, deformed man known as "The Penguin". The Penguin informs Shreck of the reason he has taken him: he wishes to return to the society of Gotham, and he wants Shreck to help him achieve this. Shreck is skeptical, but the Penguin blackmails him with incriminating evidence of his more dubious business practices. Creature Threesome Shreck arranges for the Penguin to "rescue" the mayor's infant child from his own gang members. The plan works, and Penguin becomes a hero to all. Even Bruce is convinced. The Penguin asks to be allowed to find his parents, and is given private access to the Gotham's Hall of Records, where he is seen jotting down an apparently unrelated list of names. He discovers his parents were a wealthy aristocratic couple. Adopting his birth name of Oswald Cobblepot, he publicly forgives his now-dead parents, winning more hearts and minds. Shreck decides to use Oswald's fame to his own advantage, persuading him to run for mayor to remove the final obstacle to building a new power plant. Cobblepot reluctantly agrees, noting he still has his own plans to carry out. During this time, Shreck attempted to murder his timid secretary Selina Kyle when she discovered his "power plant" was in fact a giant capacitor to suck power from the city. She survived her subsequent defenestration at Shreck's hands after her body was circled by a large number of cats, and came back with a more assertive, unstable personality, ostensibly with a cat's nine lives (minus her first "death"). Kyle makes a homemade black vinyl catsuit and becomes a costumed vigilante under the name "Catwoman". During Penguin's efforts to cause chaos through his gang to create dissatisfaction with the current Mayor, Catwoman bombs Shreck's department store. She subsequently fights Batman, who had been neutralizing the Red Triangle Circus earlier, and is apparently killed again in the process when she falls off a roof. A plan is forming While Selina Kyle is pursued in a romantic relationship with Bruce Wayne, as Catwoman she allies herself with the Penguin to get back at Batman for his killing her, although the two are still unaware of the other's alter-ego's. When the subsequent plan is put into action, Batman is framed for kidnapping and murder and finds himself trapped in the Batmobile under Penguin's control. He barely survives, but Cobblepot has become more popular than ever. Although their plan was a success, Catwoman and Penguin's alliance falls apart when she rebuffs a sexual advance from him, and Penguin opts to kill Catwoman himself. However, his campaign to recall the current mayor is quickly destroyed when Bruce Wayne plays selected comments he stated while controlling the Batmobile. He was recorded insulting the people of Gotham, and this audio is played over the sound system at a rally. Penguin flees into the sewers, renounces his humanity, and reveals his secret plan: kidnap and kill the firstborn sons of Gotham's most prominent as revenge against what was done to him. Face to face Before this scheme is launched, Bruce Wayne meets Selina Kyle at a dance hosted by Shreck, where she reveals to him her intentions to kill Shreck. The two subsequently discover the other's secret identity, but before they can leave to discuss this development, Penguin storms the hall and tries to take Max's son Chip. Max persuades Penguin to take him instead, and Bruce and Selina depart. Bruce, as Batman, attacks Penguin's Red Triangle Circus goons, and puts a stop to the kidnappings. However, Penguin has a backup plan: an army of rocket-armed penguins dispatched to bomb Gotham. But Batman manages to jam their control signals and turn the birds around so that they attack the base instead, leaving the Penguin critically injured. Batman glides through a broken window and discovers Catwoman has come to kill Shreck, which he unsuccessfully attempts to talk her out of. During this, Shreck draws a gun he took in the confusion and attempts to kill them both. Batman is shot once while Catwoman is hit four times, apparently leaving her with two "lives". She decides to sacrifice her next-to-last life by putting a taser in her mouth and "kissing" Shreck, while also grabbing hold of a large electric generator and pushing Shreck into it, causing a huge explosion. When the smoke clears, Batman searches the rubble for Selina, but all he finds is Shreck's smoldering corpse. Penguin, barely alive, emerges from the slimy water and grabs for his gun umbrella to kill Batman, but picks up his "cute" one by mistake. He finally falls dead on the floor and is slid gently into the water by the penguins as a final tribute. Driving through Gotham, Bruce sees Catwoman’s shadow. Investigating, he only finds Selina's pet cat, which he decides to take home. As the bat-signal lights up in the sky, the figure of Catwoman appears looking at the signal from a rooftop. Cast *Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman *Danny DeVito as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin *Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/Catwoman *Christopher Walken as Max Shreck *Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth *Pat Hingle as James Gordon *Michael Murphy as Mayor Hamilton Hill *Vincent Schiavelli as The Organ Grinder *Anna Katarina as The Poodle Lady *Andrew Bryniarski as Charles Shreck *Cristi Conaway as The Ice Princess Trivia *After the success of Batman, Warner Bros. was hoping for a sequel to start filming in May 1990 at Pinewood Studios. They spent $250,000 storing the sets from the first film. Tim Burton had mixed emotions from the previous film. "I will return if the sequel offers something new and exciting," he said in 1989. "Otherwise it's a most-dumbfounded idea." Burton decided to direct Edward Scissorhands for 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Sam Hamm from the previous film delivered the first two drafts of the script, while Bob Kane was brought back as a creative consultant. Hamm's script had Penguin and Catwoman going after hidden treasure. *Burton was impressed with Daniel Waters' work on Heathers; Burton originally brought Waters aboard on a sequel to Beetlejuice. Warner Bros. then granted Burton a large amount of creative control, demoting producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber to executive producers. Dissatisfied with the Hamm script, Burton commissioned a rewrite from Waters. Waters "came up with a social satire that had an evil mogul backing a bid for the Mayor's office by the Penguin," Waters reported. "I wanted to show that the true villains of our world don't necessarily wear costumes." The plot device of Penguin running for Mayor came from the 1960s TV series episodes "Hizzoner the Penguin" and "Dizzoner the Penguin". Waters wrote a total of five drafts. *On the characterization of Catwoman, Waters explained "Sam Hamm went back to the way comic books in general treat women, like fetishy sexual fantasy. I wanted to start off just at the lowest point in society, a very beaten down secretary." Harvey Dent appeared in early drafts of the script, but was deleted. Waters quoted, "Sam Hamm definitely planned that. I flirted with it, having Harvey start to come back and have one scene of him where he flips a coin and it's the good side of the coin, deciding not to do anything, so you had to wait for the next movie." In early scripts Max Shreck was the "golden boy" of the Cobblepot family, whereas Penguin was the deformed outsider. It turned out that Shreck would be the Penguin's long-lost brother. Max Shreck was also a reference to actor Max Schreck, known for his role as Count Orlok in Nosferatu. *Burton hired Wesley Strick to do an uncredited rewrite. Strick recalled, "When I was hired to write Batman Returns (Batman II at the time), the big problem of the script was Penguin's lack of a 'master plan'." Warner Bros. presented Strick with warming or freezing Gotham City (later to be used in Batman & Robin). Strick gained inspiration from a Moses parallel that had Penguin killing the firstborn sons of Gotham. A similar notion was used when the Penguin's parents threw him into a river as a baby. Robin appeared in the script, but was deleted due to too many characters. Waters feels Robin is "the most worthless character in the world, especially with as the loner of loners." Robin started out as a juvenile gang leader, who becomes an ally to Batman. Robin was later changed to a black teenager who's also a garage mechanic. Waters explained, "He's wearing this old-fashioned garage mechanic uniform and it has an 'R' on it. He drives the Batmobile, which I notice they used in the third film!" Marlon Wayans was cast, and signed for a sequel. Wayans had attended a wardrobe fitting, but it was decided to save the character for a third installment. *Michael Keaton returned after a significant increase in his salary at $10 million. Annette Bening was cast as Catwoman after Burton saw her performance in The Grifters, but dropped out due to pregnancy. Raquel Welch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lena Olin, Ellen Barkin, Cher, Bridget Fonda, Madonna and Susan Sarandon were then in competition for the role. Sean Young, who was originally cast as Vicki Vale in the first film, believed the role should have gone to her. Young visited production offices dressed in a homemade Catwoman costume, demanding an audition. Geena Davis and Brooke Shields were each offered the role of Catwoman, but both of them turned it down. Burton was unfamiliar with Michelle Pfeiffer's work, but was convinced to cast her after one meeting.. Pfeiffer received a $3 million salary ($2 million more than Bening) and a percentage of the box office. Pfeiffer took kickboxing lessons for the role. Kathy Long served as Pfeiffer's body double. On Danny DeVito's casting, Waters explained, "I kind of knew that DeVito was going to play The Penguin. We didn't really officially cast it, but for a short nasty little guy, it's a short list. I ended up writing the character for Danny DeVito." Names thrown out who were considered to play The Penguin include Marlon Brando, John Candy, Dustin Hoffman, Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd. *Marlon Wayans was signed on to play Robin in this movie and Batman Forever - he even went through costuming for the five minutes that he appeared in the script. But when the script was re-written and Joel Schumacher took over as director, the role went to Chris O'Donnell. Wayans was paid for both movies. Category: Batman Returns 2